Take Me or Leave Me
by writing circle
Summary: 452 and 494 are on a mission which seems to go wrong...
1. Chapter 1 by Syrai

Take me or Leave me

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Chapter 1 by Syrai  
  
Same as always, I do not own these characters but if you want, you can always sue me. Not that you would get anything out of it...  
  
_A/N: So this is simply Jillybean's challenge which I took and totally forgot. Now I decided to do it, or try to do it anyway._

* * *

*God I hate these things*, 494 thought as he stopped to place the headset mike better into his ear. Crackling in his ear got louder but the fact that it was gonna blow his mind didn't really matter as long as he was able to hear the instructions from the other side of the microphone. All though the cold voice which his partner used wasn't exactly the thing he wanted to hear 24/7 but it wasn't his call. *Work is a work… Though the pay sucks.*   
  
"What the hell is keeping you 494? Did you stop to take a nap?" He snapped back to reality glancing around. Oh, 494 could just tell that the typical conversation of theirs was coming out soon. He knew that the best thing to do right now was just shut up and ignore everything he heard coming out from her. But what the hell, he was bored!   
  
"Yeah I did. See I took my sleeping back out of my tiny pocket and went to see the sandman."  
  
"You do know that you ain't funny, don't you?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Well now you do."  
  
"I guess so."  
  
"Can you quit being such a jerk and concentrate on to the job?"  
  
"Can you tell me again why we couldn't use the front door like every normal people in here?" 494 questioned continuing to walk down the empty corridor again.   
  
"Can't you just shut up, 494?" Icy tone answered. "Just keep walking. Take a right from the next crossroad."  
  
"I mean really – I feel like an idiot in here", he continued scanning the empty corridor with his eyes before he turned. No alarms - no signs of danger. *Good.*   
  
"I think that has something to do with the fact that you're an idiot." Again the same tone.  
  
"Okay, you know what – next time I tell them that I'm a solo specialist and I wanna keep it that way. See these kinds of assignments with you I mean, they're gonna beat me-"  
  
"I'm gonna beat you if you don't shut up!"  
  
"That's exactly my point. I feel like you don't trust me or my skills or -"  
  
"Will you shut up already?" Now the voice was irritated. 949 smiled to himself – he sure knew how the make it happen.   
  
"What's up with you, baby?"  
  
"You, 494. You! I just wanna get this overdone, okay? And please, call me by my designation. It's 452."  
  
"I know what it is."  
  
"Good. Then use it."  
  
452 stared the monitor in front of her with angry look in her eyes trying to find a way to guide him where he needed to go though she personally wanted to guide him straight to hell! She already hated the fact that she had to sit in the van while he got to do all the fun and on top of that he had to be such a normal annoying jerk, as he always was. Sometimes she was so ready to break his neck! 452 woke from her thoughts as she suddenly saw how the spot on the screen stopped. She draw herself closer the monitor to see better not that it was necessary.  
  
"Okay, 452…Where do I head now?"  
  
"To hell I hope."  
  
"That's where we'll meet if I get caught."  
  
"Don't move - wait."  
  
"Wait for what?"  
  
"Wait and shut the hell up."  
  
He waited. And shut up.   
  
  



	2. Chapter 2 by Big Sister

TAKE ME OR LEAVE ME

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Chapter 2 by Big Sister  
  
Okay since NS took to long for Syrai's (or my) liking, here's my addition.   
  
_Dedication:_ This chapter is dedicated to my Mummy, who's Birthday it is … today actually now. (16/6/03)  
  
_A/N:_ I'm sorry this is so short, but I've added all I wanted too so far and I've got get back to boarding school in the morning. You'll just have to take it from here. Promise my next contribution will be longer.  
  
Oh and _Disclaimer:_ May I second what S said about suing, because I don't have anything worth suing me for either and I don't own Dark Angel or any of it's characters or scenes. Fox does. Though it's my life's ambition to reverse that fact.

* * *

It was just as well that he did, because at that moment a muscular blonde man came sneaking around the corner. 494 shrank back against the wall, trying to avoid being seen.

  
Suddenly the other man paused. 494 felt his heart stop. Had he been spotted?

  
The man spoke, "Logan! What the hell do you mean you've lost the connection to the security cameras?"

  
494 relaxed, grinning to himself. Obviously this poor fool had also been set up with a headset mike.

  
Quickly 494 assessed the situation. Luckily somebody had put a large ancient-looking bookcase out here in the corridor. It provided him with some cover for now, but in a few seconds the blonde man would be close enough to see him, unless 494 did something - fast.

  
The most obvious option was to simply knock him out cold, but for some reason he was reluctant to do that. No ordinary person could match a transgenic, but still the man looked like he could pack one hell of a punch. He'd be trouble to take out quietly and stealth was paramount in this operation. And … besides … , a voice in 494's head added reluctantly, he had this gut feeling that for some reason it would be a bad idea to try to take out this man.

  
He looked around for a second optician. It was too late to take to the ceiling. There was a door approximately five inches to his left. If he could just slip behind it without the man noticing, he could just wait for him to pass and then get on to the next phase of his mission.

  
Gingerly he inched his hand out towards the handle. The other man was still busy hissing at the invisible voice in his ear. "Well un-scramble it then! I don't care if that would crash your computer! What do you mean somebody's deliberately putting up firewalls? Who the hell would bother? I took out the guards myself!"

  
'452 would bother,' 494 thought as his hand closed on the handle, 'Still, that with the guards is good to know. Thank you!' Gingerly he pressed downwards releasing the door. Now he just had to get behind it. Checking that the man was still arguing with his distant accomplice, he slowly pulled his hand forward, inch-by-nerve-racking-inch, one little bit a time, until finally he had just enough room to squeeze through. With all stealth borne of years of training, he pushed himself through the gap. The blonde man still hadn't noticed.

  
All of a sudden there was a scream behind him. **"What the hell do you think your doing?"**

  
Instantly he spun around and found himself face-to-face with an irate woman in her mid-fifties, welding a large hand bag like some kind of weapon – and for good reason – a horrified 494 suddenly realised which room he had so stupidly strayed into. The ladies lavatories.

  
_"Pervert!"_ the woman roared, _"Sicko!"_

  
494 swallowed hard. Then his training took over. Instantly he became nothing more than a blur as he dashed forward and snapped the woman's neck.

  
"Tough price to pay for simply defending her dignity!" said a voice behind him.

  
494 turned slowly fully aware of what he would see. The blonde man had finally spotted him.

  
494 sprang forward, aiming a blow to the man's knees, but to his surprise his adversary dodged it with ease and landed on of his own on the transgenic's head. 'A blow that hurts like hell,' he thought kicking so-called ordinary in the mid-riff. The blonde grabbed his shoulder and threw him across the room. 494 staggered, dazed, and the man used that chance to come at him again, aiming a blow to his abdomen. 494 saw it coming and blocked it. Landing a blow of his own to the man's head. His opponent instantly retaliated, kicking the transgenic's feet out from under him. 494 sprung up from the floor knocking his adversary against the wall. The transgenic grabbed the other man's head and slammed him down against a sink, knocking him unconscious.

  
494 found himself gasping for breath. He was worn out. That fight had been hard. Much too hard for his liking. Was there something wrong with him? Was he ill? Was he getting week?

  
He looked down at the still form of his beaten adversary and then his eyes fixed on something that made him stop dead.

  
"Oh My God!" 494 whispered, "He's got a barcode!"

  
"I know," came a very cold voice in his ear, "That's 599. One of the '09 escapees. You know – the unit I almost deserted with."


	3. Chapter 3 by X5927alpha

TAKE ME OR LEAVE ME

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Chapter 3 by X5927alpha (Heather)  
  
  
  
This is not mine. Dark Angel is not mine. I am simply writing a chapter for a circle writing project from tAS( the Alternative Space).I know It's short, but it is what my mind can put out right now, and I think this is a good place for someone else to run with it for a while. 

* * *

494 stood over the unconscious transgenic, panting into the speaker of his com unit. 

"599! What the hell is he doing here? I thought you said this was a secure operation! You didnt say anything about me having to fight Manticore escapees!" 

He was a little more worried then pissed off. If 599 was here, how many of the other escapees might be around as well? 

If they were smart, they would have split up long ago which meant that there was a high likelihood that there were no other 09 escapees around the vicinity. But then, they had escaped in the first place and how smart was that? According to all of Manticores training, not very. 

452 answered him with her normal tone. "It's not like I knew he would be here! He went rouge, remember? So dont even try to start blaming this on me. I have enough trouble trying to jam his friends attempts to find out whats going on in there!" 

494 could here the frantic typing in the background, and he knew that she really was doing all she could. 

"So what do you want me to do with him?" he asked, exasperated. "I cant leave him here, if the security finds him, it'll do more harm to our mission. And if we manage to pull this mission off without calling too much attention to ourselves, and we show up at the rendezvous with a captured 09 fugitive, we may be looking at promotions or at least we wont have to worry about Lydecker breathing down our necks so much..." 

"Shut up and get going already," 452 cut him off. "Securitys already making the rounds. About 20 minutes before they get to your area. That should be more then enough time for you to get yourself and 599 to the third checkpoint." 

"But what should I do with the..." 

"Forget her. Theres nowhere to hide a body down there anyways. Get going." 

"Yes ma'am" 494 muttered to himself under his breath, knowing 452 could hear it. 

"I heard that" she answered sharply. 

He pulled 599 into a seated position against the wall of the hallway and carefully closed the door to the womans bathroom. With any luck, the guards wouldnt look in there. 

After hauling the bulk of 599 over his left shoulder, 494 started off at a slow run, sprinting towards the third checkpoint. 

* * *

Not mine. Not mine. Not mine. Not mine. Not mine. Not mine. Not mine. Not mine. Not mine. Not mine. Get the picture? 


	4. Chapter 4 by Wicked Sue

TAKE ME OR LEAVE ME

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Chapter 4 by sue  
  
  
  
*who is at this moment a very bad and a very lazy girl. Oh yeah, do I mention one busy girl ;) hee*   
  
After much persuasion and goading from one certain individual *yes sweetie, that would be you BigSis :)* I've decided to finish this off as soon as I can. Yeah, I have a really annoying test staring at me and I'm not in the mood to study *shrug* Anyway, I'm sorry if this is too short, but I'm too busy and way too lazy to write longer hee sorry about that and I really hope you'll like it :) And a special thanks to the sweet Beatrice with her help. If you guys wanted to know, I just typed this and dumped the rest onto BigSis's lap. *Bad sue! Bad bad sue* yes, I know that. *hugs BigSis* thanks hon, you're the BEST!! Mwaah 

* * *

494 looked around the deserted hallway and almost smiled as he saw that it's deserted ... as expected. He walked faster, the unmoving body of the rogue 599 was securely on his shoulder. 

'Do you know how heavy your ex-CO is 452?' he whispered into his earpiece, this silence was slowly getting onto his nerve. 

'Oh shut up 494! For once in your life, try to concentrate will you?' came the annoyed reply. 

494's smile got even wider as he said, 'I _am_ concentrating. How in the world can you say that I'm not? And I'm not kidding about 599. He _is_ heavy. What do you guys eat anyway?' 

'What are you talking about? It's not like I've been living with him for the last ten years,' she said, gritting her teeth in exasperation. 

'You know what they say, your childhood is the base for your future,' he said in smiling tone. _God, don't I just love it when she's annoyed. I really wish I could see her now; she must've getting all riled up by now. Okay 494, time for the work at hand now. _'Am I clear till the third checkpoint, 452? I would absolutely hate it if we encounter another civilian. One is enough you know.' 

'Yes 494, you are. I'll let you know if there's anything,' she said matter of factly. _I won't let him bother me again, that smart aleck 494._

'If you say so.' 

'YES!! I said so!! Is that all right with you, your highness?' she growled into her mouthpiece, all earlier thoughts gone. 

'Tsk.. tsk.. control yourself soldier, you're on a mission remember?' he said, grinning as if he could hear her control snapping in half. 

452 clenched her teeth in anger but refused to reply. _He won't succeed this time,_ she thought to herself as she tried to concentrate on the blinking monitor in front of her. 

'What? No answers? Hey, are you all right 452? Don't tell me you're sick at this particular time?' he asked, sounding worried. 

_Hmph__, worried my ass,_ she thought grumpily. _How on earth did she end up with this _particular_ X5? It's not like we're good with each other as a team or anything, 10 minutes with that guy and I'm ready to kill him with my bare hands. Manticore should've realized this by now but they keep sending us together. Oh yeah, I forgot.. Manticore is always that weird. How could I expect anything less than this?_ She thought crankily. 

She was too lost in her thoughts that she missed those little blips on her monitor. By the time she does, it was too late. Two guards were fast approaching 494's recent location and she groaned in frustration. Damn! How could everything turns out this way? But before she could even opened her mouth to warn him, her earpiece crackled to life. 

'Damn 452! 599 is coming to! He's starting to gain consciousness.' 452 closed her eyes as she heard him. _Everything is getting better and better,_ she thought dimly. 

'You have two guards approaching you from behind. I repeat, there's two guards behind you!' the desperation in her voice was very apparent as she typed furiously, trying hard to find an escape route for him. 

494 almost groaned as he heard it. _Dammit__! And now with the rogue 599 on his hand, this has better been worth it._ Quickly, he dumped the blonde 599 unceremoniously onto the cold floor and struck him on the head with the butt of his gun. Without a sound, 599 slipped back to the waiting darkness. _Okay, one problems taken care off, now the two guards._

'599 is off the list 452,' he said briskly as he started to walk towards the two guards, 'I'm moving onto the two guards now.' 

'Wait!' she almost shouted and 494 grimaced as the loud voice nearly blasted his eardrums off, 'there's two more coming in the opposite direction!' _Trapped._ That one word bounced crazily in his head as he stood besides the unconscious 599. _God dammit, I'm trapped!_


	5. Chapter 5 by kitty

TAKE ME OR LEAVE ME

Well, here I am!! Yay!! I read  the other chaps, and I'm thinking 'OMG!! What do I do??' So, I'm just writing with the flow. But BEWARE- I may go overboard, and write way too much!

494 looked for a way out, but was dismayed to realise that he waited too late, and now was completely surrounded. What made matters worse, was that 599 was refusing to wake up. _'Okay 494, confront the enemy.'_

"Hey, do any of you know where the messenger service…Jam Pony is?" 494 asked politely.

The guards walked towards him, ignoring him completely. 

 494 used his transgenic vision to lock onto the nearest building. It was about 300 yards away. '_If I just beat the crap out of the guards, I think I'll make it.' 494 thought, his mind racing with possible tactics. _

Out of no where a huge fist found it's way to 494's gut. 494 fell to the ground in pain. _'How do overweight guards, who have never even seen the gym, have so much power??' _494 looked up at his attackers to find that they were in perfect condition, but it was still puzzling how they had so much power. 

494 got up into a fighting stance, letting his Manticore training take control. The guards circled their prey, like a pack of vultures, diving for the kill. There was an explosion of kicks and punches. 

494 could hear 452's voice ringing in his ears, but didn't have the chance to reply, his head pounded with pain, and was washed over with blood. The guards weren't looking that good either, one of them was supporting a bloody nose, while the remaining three all had cut's and bruises. 

452 was screaming at her partner to reply to her, watching the dots on her screen become blurred and fuzzy. "494!! Back down!!" 452 yelled, but she knew this was of no use, there was no way 494 could back down, he was in too much trouble to walk away. _'If Manticore _ever_ finds out about this…_' But she didn't dare complete those thoughts, her eyes remained glued to the screen in horror. 

494 threw a guard to the ground. He looked around to check if any of the others were conscious. He bent down, and pulled the guards collar down. TO 494's horror, there was no barcode. "Hey…these guys have no-" A painful sensation filled 494's gut, 494 fell to the ground in agony. He looked at the attacker, and was confused to see a small man. He recognized this man, but he couldn't remember who it exactly was. 

494's eyes widened as he realised who it was. "White…" he whispered, darkness then engulfed him.

"White??" 452 repeated. "494! Whose White?" 452 asked quietly. No answer came. 452 looked to the screen in anticipation of hearing 494's cocky voice again. 

The green dot, which was 494, had disappeared completely. _'He's dead. He has to be, the device that Renfro gave me, looks for any signs of life. He's gone. He's dead.'_


	6. Chapter 6 by Big Sister

TAKE ME OR LEAVE ME

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Chapter 6 by Big Sister  
  
  
  
_Author's Note:_ For those of you who don't know off-hand (I had to look this up) 210 is Jondy and 734 is Brin and the angelic wicked Suziegirl just told me that Biggs is 511

* * *

452 glared at the screen for several seconds. _'Typical!'_ she thought, _'It would be just like that idiot to go and get himself killed just when I need him most.'_

It was of course always possible that 494 was actually still alive. _'Unfortunately,'_ she silently added. 

The device that fed her computer his vital signs could simply have become damaged or disconnected. In which case he would still be fighting for his life and desperately in need of backup. If he was dead, then there would be twenty odd seriously annoyed guards inside that fertility and, if this mission was to be completed, she would be desperately in need of backup. 

Either way – she reached for the phone beneath her desk and punched in a secure number. 

"Jampony messenger service," came a cheerful voice on the other end. 

"494 is in trouble," Max shot down the line, "I need backup _now._" 

"Really!" the voice retorted, "Have you never heard of being polite? You're supposed to start up a conversation by saying 'hello'!" 

Max groaned. _I don't have time for this._

"Listen you little mind-altering phy-ops bitch, if I don't get a couple of kick-ass genetically empowered soldiers knocking on my van door in five minutes, 494 will die. So shift your telepathic ass in gear and contact the others!" 

"It's not telepathic, it's …" But 452 hung up on her. 

At four – make that five – transgenics this was a major mission. Huge, by normal standards. A single X5 was usually more than enough, but in this case it had proven necessary to use more. 

It wasn't even a particularly difficult task. 494 and 452 were supposed to stage a bank robbery and keep the local police busy, while 511 and 210 broke into the homes and offices of several high-ranking police officers and obtained copies of various files that Manticore wanted – and that was it. 

However the number of police officers Manticore wanted files from was by no means small – more like enough to sink several small battleships. Which was why Manticore had declared it a two-man job. 

The decoy mission, the bank-robbery, wasn't exactly that much harder – or at least it shouldn't have been. Normally it would have been a simple case of running the decoy and then getting onto the main mission – but due to the difficulties of staying undetected with a large amount of loot, while trying to break into the houses of the very same police officers that were already searching for you, it had been decided that it would be easier to use a separate team for each mission. 

Which presented a new whole problem, keeping Team Alpha (511 and 210) and Team Beta (494 and herself) talking to each other. Obviously, simply phoning each other to check on their status wasn't an option, as by this point the police had most of the phone-lines in Seattle tapped. 

The problem was solved by a unique idea of 210's during recon. _Which got her in damn fine favour with Renfro now, didn't it?_ Max thought bitterly. The idea was for someone from Manticore to get a job as a dispatcher in a messenger service and act as an intermediary, interpreting messages from one team and sending them on to the other. The advantage of using a messenger service was of course that, should the phone cease to be an option, they could always send each other packages. 

Renfro had naturally been 'building on the idea' when she decided to use a phy-ops unit for that role. Phy-ops would have no trouble getting the job and even less maintaining cover for all parties (messengers would simply forget that they had made fifty runs to the same address, bosses would not notice the unauthorised runs and so on), but 452 still didn't like the fact that the phy-ops unit was there. She couldn't forget the year she had spent at the hands of the adolescent phy-ops units after she and 210 had been recaptured during the '09 escape. 

Her musing was rudely interrupted by sound of somebody knocking on the van door. 

Warily she opened it, ready to dodge a would-be attacker. 

"That makes it 4 minutes 59.3 seconds exactly since your phone call. Do we get a lollipop or something?" 

"210!" 452 said by way of greeting. 

She could never look at the other X5 without some kind odd feeling stirring in the pit of her stomach. 

She remembered the night of the escape. 

_Together they broke out of the woods. Herself and the others._

**TRAITORS SNEAKS RATS**

_She saw 210 run across the ice. She followed her. _

_It broke. _

_She was plunged into the ice-cold water. She could see 210 above her staring down after her rapidly vanishing body. She struggled to reach the surface. Get out. Breathe. _

_Then she saw 210 look up in fright and everything went very bright. Foolishly she tried to escape her Manticore rescuers by swimming further beneath the ice. Escape them._

**WRONG STUPID IGNORANT SINFUL BAD**

_But in the end they found her and took her and her sister_

**FELLOW SOLIDER**

_back__ to the warm safety and security of Manticore_

**RIGHT HAPPY GOOD**

_where__ they were taught the true value of who they were once more._

"Hey," another voice said, "We're here too." 452 noticed a pale dark-haired male X5 immediately behind 210 and beside him – 452 gritted her teeth instinctively – the chirpy brunette that was the phy-ops unit. 

"I'm sorry 511," 452 replied quickly, "It's just that I saw 210 first as I came out of the van." She didn't want 511 thinking that she was in any way closer to her fellow solider from her old traitorous unit than she was to him or 494 or any other member of the unit she had been transferred into after the escape. Because she wasn't. Not at all. 

"So what's happened to 494?" 511 asked. 

* * *

Slowly as his vision cleared he found himself looking into the face of 452. 

"Okay, if I've got to be dead – can't I at least have something better to look at?" he muttered. 

"Err buddy?" a voice said and the face changed into that of his best friend from his unit, 511. 

"Better," 494 murmured, "But I was thinking more along the lines of female and hot and …" 

Something seized his shoulders, lifting him up and spinning him around so that his vision fell on two rather cute brunettes. 

"That's good! Now just let them get naked and I'm there." 

For an answer something struck him hard across the head. 

"Ouch," he paused, rubbing it where he'd been struck, "I can feel pain – I take it I'm not dead then?" 

"No sorry pal," 511's voice came laughing in his ear, "But I'm sure that girl over there can make you think you are again if you'd like." 

"So can this one over here," 452 added. 

Slowly 494 took stock of his surroundings. He was kneeling on the floor, with 511 and 452 supporting him, in a large room with a row of safes lining one wall and a corridor full of offices coming of another. Bound securely with duck tape to pillars in the centre of the room were 599 and all of 494's twenty-odd attackers. In front of him 494 now recognised the two brunettes as 210 and the phy-ops unit that he and 452 had used as the messenger between themselves and Team Alpha. 

"We're still in the bank?" he asked trying to ascertain the facts, "This is the main vault room that I was heading for?" 

"That's right," 452 replied, leaving him to check on the unconscious prisoners. 

"And you guys managed to take them out okay?" 

"What does it look like, 494?" 511 retorted, joining her, "Just because you fight like a girl and can't handle a couple of ordinary civilian soldiers – doesn't mean we all have to." 

"I am telling you, man, those people are not ordinary," 494 shot back at him, "They fight as hard as transgenics – and I should know – I fought a transgenic just five minutes before them." 

"What you mean this loser with 10 years less training than you?" 210 laughed, slapping the man in question across the head as she passed him. 

It was the phy-ops unit who took pity on him. "We used stun-grenades," she explained, "It was really _fun_!" 

As one the X5s turned around and stared at her. She shrank back into her corner. 

Alone out of the entire party she was not involved with the task at hand of checking on the duck-tape bound captives. In fact she seemed to be avoiding contact with everyone, transgenic and prisoner alike, she was just standing apart in a corner by the window, ignoring them. Or more accurately they were ignoring her. 

494 could see why. All X5s hated and feared phy-ops, because of the way they were used to control the X-series, so naturally they wanted her and all her kind to be as far way from them as possible. Not exactly the right set-up for a best pals situation. 

He wondered for a second why she didn't just use her mind-control thingie on them to make them like her, but then he guessed – correctly as it happened - that there were just too many X5s here for her to get away with it. 

"So what's the plan now?" 494 asked rising to his feet, "Are we gonna just take the money and leave this lot here?" 

"Nah, we've gone to plan B," 452 explained, "We're gonna take them all hostage." 

494 started to laugh at this, but stopped as soon as he saw the looks on their faces. 

"You're not serious?" he gasped. 

"Sure are," 210 smiled. 

_"But what if they wake up?"_ his voice had become strangely high-pitched as he thought of it. 

"Oh don't worry your little wussy head about that, 494," 511 laughed, "They're gonna stay sedated. We have enough here to last for about 10 hours at least. After that there's always mind-control girlie." 

"Okay," 210 smiled looking up, "They look okay to me. Keep checking on them you two. Don't want of them to choke or fall into a coma or something.511 and I have to go and meet 734 now." 

"You're leaving?" 494 gasped, "You're gonna leave us alone with them?" 

"That's right 494," 246 replied, "Now that you and 452 have the situation back under control, somebody's got to go and get those files, haven't they?" 

"But … but …" 

"What?" 210 laughed, "Don't tell me your afraid of them? What are they gonna do? Snore at you?" 

"But that one's White! You know! The one Manticore is always sending transgenics to assassinate and from whose house they never return!" 

There was silence. 

Then a smile lit up 452's face. 

"Really?" she grinned. 


	7. Chapter 7 by Wicked Sue

TAKE ME OR LEAVE ME

* * *

  
  
Chapter 7 by Wicked Sue  
  
I'm sorry this took more than a week but I had a very hectic week, what with all those tests staring at me and Big Sister was nice enough to give me an extension :) and after bugging her again last night 

*I'm too lazy to go through every chapters again.. yes, I'm a bad baad girl :P* 

*sue, you should be ashamed of yourself! Yes, I know *sigh* and yeah, I am.. ashamed of myself I mean..* BS's too nice to me for her own good ;) anyway, here is the next chapter, and I have tried to make it longer, but sadly I don't think it's long enough.. but I really hope you'll like it and please tell me what you think :) 

Okay, this is the second note. I had to rewrite some of the scenes because of my laziness in going through the chapters. So, please.. any comments are very much appreciated. 

* * *

_A few hours before.._

The sun was shining through the shiny windows and the bright beams fall onto a very tidy desk. One perfectly manicured set of hand was seen tapping impatiently on the shiny surface of the table as the owner of that hand was talking into the phone. 

'Are you sure? Can you tell me for certain that those team members are indeed transgenics?' he asked briskly, frowning into the phone. 'Give me their barcodes,' he suddenly barked. 

He listened attentively for the next few seconds as the caller reeled of numbers after numbers but his head snapped up as he heard the last two. The excitement shone brightly from his eyes as he whispered contentedly, '452, 494. Can't wait to meet the two of you.' 

The man in the perfectly pressed suit stood as his door creaked open and another agent walked in. 'Agent White,' he said quickly, 'we have to get going. We're late enough as it is.' 

'And you're saying that it's my fault?' Agent White asked sharply as he looked with a scornful glance at the other agent. 

'Of course not, sir,' the man barely concealed his stammer as he stood, waiting for White's next move. Word has it that White was one agent _everyone_ tried to get out of the way. And to sweeten matter, his reputation at the Bureau was too good to look down on. 

Too damn good. 

But none of the other agents dared to question White, except for their superiors but he could named a few who seemed to fall under White's spell. But quickly he shook his thoughts away as he tried desperately to gather his scrambled thoughts together again. 'As I was saying sir,' he tried again, 'we have to go now.' 

White just waved the request aside as he turned back towards his desk and started to shuffle some papers. 'No, I'm withdrawing myself from this mission. I have another one that needs my attention,' as if realizing that the other man hasn't moved a muscle, he spun on his heel and raised a brow, 'and you can go now. I have work to do.' 

After a few more seconds of complete silence, the younger agent realized that White wasn't bluffing and he turned wearily and left, thinking that White was as weird as his reputation. 

Back inside the office, White smiled as his eyes gleamed menacingly. 'I'm going to get the two of you, if that's the last thing I do,' he said with rock hard conviction. 

A few minutes later, he exited and went straight to his destination. 

A bank. 

_The present: Inside the bank. _

The dark haired man glanced at his partner and cocked his head to one side. 'Are you ready?' 

Next to him, the beautiful 210 just grinned, 'Are you kidding? Let's go 511.' 

511 smiled and together they moved silently through the empty and deserted hallways. Their eyes flicked around, trying to find any sort of danger but somehow, their path was clear. They stopped and listened as they got in front of one particular door. After hearing only silence, 511 drew out a small pin and started to pick the lock. A few seconds later a loud click rang out and he grinned with satisfaction as he turned towards the waiting girl. 'Aren't I the best or what!' he crowed. 

'Yeah.. Yeah,' she slapped the side of his head sharply before reminding him, 'We're on a mission, remember that!' But she was grinning nonetheless. 

Feeling light hearted, the two exited the bank and got into a waiting car before starting towards their destinations, to go in search for the much wanted files. 

* * *

The wind whipped through 210's fair hair and she leaned her head into the head rest as she closed her eyes. She sighed softly as the breeze ruffled her hair and the light touch caressed her face. The cool comforting air brushed all over her and suddenly she was shoved back into the past. 

One cold chilly night. 

The night of their failed escape. 

Instantly, her thoughts wandered to 599, her ex-commanding officer. The captured rogue and her heart sank a little. Despite her sessions of Psy-Ops and reindroc, she can't entirely see 599 as the so called traitor. She recalled how he had always looked after her and the rest of her unit and she shook her head a little as she turned to look at the speeding scenery. Her usually bright eyes dulled with pain and sadness as she leaned her head against the glassy window, looking outside with blank unseen eyes. 

511 threw a glance towards his suddenly silent partner and frowned. _Okay, this is weird,_ he thought to himself as he sneaked another quick glance. _She never get this quiet, so something is definitely wrong. And her eyes.._ he shuddered slightly, he had never seen such empty and desperate looking eyes. 

'Care to tell me what's wrong?' he asked simply without taking his eyes of from the windscreen. 

210 almost jumped out of her skin before she turned in her seat and looked at his firm profile beside her. 'What?' she answered with a quick startled laugh, 'What the hell are you talking about?' 

'Something's troubling you, that much I could tell,' he shrugged as he gave her a quick glance before giving his attention back to the road. 'So, let's skip the hassle of me digging it out from the reluctant you and you just tell me everything,' he grinned as he saw that 210 had stiffened in her seat, 'it'll save time and you'll feel better afterwards, trust me.' 

Heaving a heavy sigh, 210 turned and stared at the blurred trees, 'I was thinking about.. 599,' she admitted softly as she kept staring at the rushing scene outside her window before lapsing off into another silence. 

Again 511 darted a quick look at the brooding girl, 'The rogue. He was your ex-CO, right?' 

The blond girl was silent for a few seconds before she opened her mouth again and whispered, 'Yeah.' 

The sad despondent tone tugged a string at 511's conscience. But before he could do anything about it, he stopped the car and said simply, 'We're here.' 

The two of them turned and looked at the big sprawling mansion before getting out of the car. 

_Meanwhile, in another part of the bank._

'Dammit 494, you almost screwed the whole mission up!' 452 hissed angrily as she glared heatedly into his hazel eyes. 

'Hey, how should I know the guards change their schedule today. If I remember correctly, I'm not the one who did the recon,' he answered, hands securely on his chest as he stared into her fury filled dark eyes. 'Hmm..' he tapped a finger on his chin as he started to look as he was thinking something heavy, 'who was it that did the recon for this mission? Hmm..' he finished with a heavy frown, but his eyes were gleaming as he sneaked a glance her way. 

452 could actually felt the heat that crept into her face as she desperately tried to find something to get out of this little predicament. 'Well,' she said hastily, 'I guess those guards could be useful in case anything went wrong, they could be our hostages. 20 odd hostages should be enough right? And team Alpha, I guess they're already going through those files?' she asked as she tried to change the subject. _There's no way in hell I'm going to admit that I'm wrong in front of him_, she thought determinedly. _No way indeed._

494 almost chuckled as he saw through 452's thin act, _there's no way she's going to admit she's wrong_, he thought with an affectionate grin. His gaze fell onto the unconscious man in the good suit and he took a step forward. 'You guys caught White too? Now, this is amazing! Manticore wanted his for ages,' he grinned with delight, 'I could already smell the promotions.' 

The brunette shook her head as she scowled at him, 'For once 494, be serious! This is a serious situation, so.. _please_! Act your age, for god sake!' 

'Me? I'm always responsible,' he answered with an innocent look as he knelt besides the unconscious White, checking the Agent's pulse. 

'Yeah right,' she rolled her eyes. 

'If I wasn't, why did they make me the CO huh?' he asked cheekily as he winked at her. 

'Lack of judgement or was it a moment of insanity?' she mumbled as tested their prisoners' duct tapes for lack of anything else to do. 

For the other side of the room, 494 burst out into a loud laugh. 'Someone is in denial,' he said knowingly, a smirk on his annoyingly cheery face. 

But suddenly the tiny hair at the back of his neck rose and he turned his head quickly, trying hard to find the source of his instinct. He narrowed his eyes as he ran his glance slowly through the room and he held up his hand to warn 452. 

She stiffened as she saw what he was doing and she too tried to find the source of their disturbance. Heart racing, the two of them listened hard as quietly, 494 slipped his gun out of its holster as he motioned at 452, and together they inched their way towards the thick wall until their backs were plastered against the cool wall. 

He glanced towards their unconscious prisoners and he bit back a groan as he realized that the rogue 599 was stirring slightly. _This is_ bad, he thought as he turned and looked into 452's already wide opened eyes. He tried to find the sedatives but they were all out of his reach. _This is_ really bad. 

He snapped his head towards their other prisoner, the fallen agent as tendrils of icy cold fingers crept through his spine. 494 clenched his teeth as he looked helplessly as White shook his head before opening his eyes. _Damn! Damn! Now this is getting worse!_ Quickly, he turned towards 452 and motioned for her to cover his back before he blurred towards their stirring captives. But before he could do anything, White snapped the tapes that were holding him apart and rose slowly, his eyes were on the slightly surprised transgenic. 

'You must be 494,' he drawled as he tried to straighten his rumpled suit. 

'And you must be White,' 494 answered flatly as the two men faced each other. 

With the speed of light, White threw the first punch but 494 saw the faint movement and reacted instinctively. He grabbed the fast moving arm before his feet lashed out, hitting White squarely on his kneecap. 

The agent crumpled as his knee cracked but his face remained expressionless. He moved closer and 494 didn't wait for the next attack as he leapt into the air, somersaulting past White's dark head and before he landed, he kicked the agent's back as hard as he possibly could before he dropped onto the floor, crouching on all fours. Instantly, he jumped back on his feet as White tried to stop himself from stumbling. 

452 stared fixated, as the fight continues. She frowned lightly as the other man seemed to be as good as 494 and as far as she knew _and_ that was something she won't publicly admit, her partner was among Manticore's best. She zoomed as for an instant, his neck was clearly seen and she suppressed a shudder as she couldn't find any traces of barcode. If he was not a transgenic, that what was he? Suddenly she looked with horror as she saw that the stranger palmed a glinting piece of metal as he hobbled on his weakened knee. And she didn't have time to warn 494 as White lunged and pierced it through 494's flesh. 

At that second, she was filled with utmost fury as 494 stumbled as he clenched his bleeding ribs. She blurred towards the fighting duo and she swiped her feet under White and watched how he fell down in a heap. Quickly, she straddled his body and with her strong legs, she pinned him down as she used her hand to hold his jaw firmly. 'Who are you and what do you want with us?' she snarled into his bruised face. 

But again she was distracted as behind her a dull thud sounded. She turned her head and watched with wide eyes as 494 crumpled, holding onto his bleeding side and she gasped as she saw his white face and how he had to fight for each breath. 


End file.
